Clare, a 25-year-old body-positive Instagrammer (follow her at @becomingbodypositive), posts a lot of pictures of herself on social media. As an eating disorder recovery and body positivity activist, this makes a lot of sense—Clare shares photos of her stomach rolls and loose skin to normalize her body type and send the message that people come in all shapes and sizes. Many of Clare's followers call her "brave" for posting these pictures. While they likely intend it as a compliment, Clare has mixed feelings about the word. So she dedicated an entire Instagram post to challenging this notion of "bravery" within the self-love community.

"There's an implicit assumption that comments like, 'You’re so brave!' are supposed to be received as a gesture of praise—a regard for courage or an admiration of bold spirit," Clare began her post. She continued by noting that while "brave" might aptly describe a firefighter who runs into a burning building, she's not so sure the word adequately conveys her activism. "What kind of message does it send when the word 'bravery' is autographed across visual exposures of 'unconventional' bodies?" she wrote, adding that all she really does is "exist" and "present herself as she lives in the body she has."

Clare continued by explaining that she understands how fat activism can be seen as bold—"how a fat woman baring her body with pride can be deemed as a fearlessly unapologetic display of 'confidence.' " And she agreed that it can be. "If we understand the definition of 'bravery' as 'a readiness to face and endure danger or pain,' then yes, I’d argue that the choice any marginalized body makes to demand visibility in public space is 'brave,' " Clare said, adding that this kind of body positivity can be met with violence, rejection, bullying, and other negative consequences.

"But here’s where my viewpoint starts to diverge," Clare continued. "At what point do we stop complimenting fat bodies for their 'bravery' and start PROTESTING the reality that we NEED bravery in order to validate our existence at all?" Clare explained that calling a fat person "brave" simply for living their life often reinforces an unfair system that requires fat people to exert more patience, time, and energy just to receive the same level of respect as others. "When will fat people be able to stop being brave, stop NEEDING courage to survive, stop DARING to live and depleting our mental energies on the toll 'being brave' requires?" she continued.

Clare's point resonated with many of her followers. "This got me thinking...If a person expresses no fear or embarrassment in uploading a photo of themselves, and you call them brave for doing so, you are implying that they have a reason to fear uploading the photo," one commenter wrote. "[There are] such microaggressions—the implicit 'because I'd never show my body to anyone if it looked like that,' " another added.

Though Clare's post sparked a series of different interpretations and opinions, she concluded on a note that many of her followers agreed with: "I want a world where fat people are able to show up, write, express ideas, wear clothes, go to school, form relationships, experience love—without any f*cking bravery at all."